How To Hire Employees And Keep Them
Harvard Business Review published, Employees Who Trust Their Managers Are More Likely to Trust Their CEOs. If you are responsible for hiring and retaining employees you should pay close attention. The article drew on the notion of trust transfer because junior employees interact much more with their immediate supervisor and middle managers more than with senior leadership. Hence, my biggest takeaway from this publication is this:
We found that even though trust in frontline leaders was important because it influenced trust in top leadership, trust in top leadership contributed to the organization’s overall well-being by exerting a stronger impact on employee performance. This makes sense, because trust in frontline leaders may only affect employee behaviors that are related to or observable by the frontline leaders. In contrast, trust in senior organizational leaders can prompt employees to internalize organizational goals, which influence a wider range of employee behaviors, including those that are not directly related to frontline leaders.
How To Build Trust
As a senior leader, what do you do with this information? Here are a few suggestions:
- Consider approachability as a key indicator of health of your teams
- Great results doesn’t always mean sustainability of your organization
- Observe your junior level employees for their willingness to speak up
- Consider completing 360 feedback for yourself and your teams
Henry Cloud said it best for me with this:
The extent to which two people in a relationship can bring up and resolve issues is a critical marker of the soundness of a relationship.
What Are Your Core Values
Like it or not you will spend more time at work than you will spend at home if you are a driven leader. You may as well work with people you like and share your values. Every senior leader knows they must have everyone committed to the same mission, strategy and corporate objectives. Consequently, I would also agree on the importance of these things, however, alignment behind core values should take precedent over all of them. Every employee you hire is passionate about something. Your HR team’s job is to make sure the people hired share the core values of your organization.
I’ve identified 8 principles that I’ve applied in previous senior roles. Trust is one of those principles addressed through high levels of communication. High communication equals high trust. Well, the right kind of communication anyway. You can get this workbook free HERE. Yes, it’s free. No email address needed.
